Weather Channel price forecast looks a bit high

The latest line on how much The Weather Channel will fetch is looking more in the $3.5 billion to $4 billion range.

Reuters news service reported last week that CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal are among “less than five strategic bidders” participating in the second round. Even at $4 billion, that would be $1 billion below the starting point for bids touted in early January by Decker Anstrom, COO and president of Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc., which owns The Weather Channel.

Debora Wilson, president of the Atlanta-based weather network, privately suggested to trade journalists in New York several months ago that the $4 billion figure was closer to the mark. And at a meeting in early April of top brass at News Corp., media mogul Rupert Murdoch mentioned the $3.5 billion-$4 billion range in discussing what he thought it would go for. It’s not known publicly if Murdoch has made a bid. As with his $5 billion purchase of the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, he is more inclined to make a lucrative offer for a property than get into a bidding war.

Officials at Landmark, which is marketing The Virginian-Pilot among the other properties in the $2 billion media company, have offered little information about the pending sale. The Reuters report, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said second-round bids for The Weather Channel are due Thursday. The bidding process for Landmark’s newspaper division, which includes The Pilot, is running several weeks late.